Arum Energy Drink

I did not have very high hopes for Arum, an energy drink from Mexico's Procesadora Palma, a 100% Mexican company that has made its living producing international nuts, dried fruit and chili flavored snacks. SO I was a little surprised by this when I opened up their can and found artificial flavoring. This is another company out of Mexico, so maybe the problem is I did not read the packaging closely enough. I can read "Sirvase Bien Fria" and " no recomendable paramujeres embarazadas o en lactancia" but nothing informing me that this drink a run of the mill Red Bull Clone. Maybe I should have guessed it, from the cheesy printing job on the can, but I would have expected more from a company that manufactures chilis and fruits.

Packaging:7
This would be the thing a small private label would do - I am surprised a drink like this would make it onto the shelves anywhere. While this can is pruportedly "divinamente traviesa", which I think means divinely naughty, it is in fact a Red Bullish soda with not much to it. The overall design is OK, coming in a decently printed orange cheap metal easily crunched can or the diet clear printed version. Bothdo a decent job with the printing, and I certainly liked that the website and nutricional info was written in english. I also enjoyed all the DIRE WARNINGS printed on the side, even though this drink hardly gives you a buzz and contains barely more caffeine than your average mountain dew.
Taste:4
Rather than trying to reach for a red Bull flavor exactly, this company did their own riff from the flavor, making something which has all the sourness and bitterness, but is more citrusy. The color comes out orange, which fits with the orange can - but I would not go so far as to say this was an orange drink.It is not a very natural flavor, however. The label also says this is a taurine drink, so maybe it is supposed to taste like raw taurine? And if you end up liking the flavor, no worrie - the overly strong aftertaste means you will be able to taste this in your mouth for a long time after consuming it.
Nutrition:3
I would definitely choose the High Fructose Corn Syrup version if you were going to pick up any of these - as they seem to be more flavorful, although the aftertaste is stronger. The odd thing about this energy drink is just how non-energetic it is. It has a little B vitamin complex, a decent amount of taurine, but why only have 96mg of caffeine in the whole can?? Without caffeine , energy drinks are completely useless soda. Especailly one with only chemical ingredients and sucralose to sweeten it.